“Cult records are too often like loaded dice, rigged for an outcome not necessarily desired by all parties. Contrarians and aesthetic fetishists crave difference, and as such can champion the obscure or underappreciated to downright ridiculous extremes. Despite what some have said in earnest or otherwise of this 1974 album over the years, the kaleidoscopic lens of Astral Weeks is the wrong prescription for viewing Veedon Fleece. It misses the damn point, that this gift, a treasure as mythical and mysterious as its titular provenance, cannot simply be discovered the same way you discovered *Astral Weeks* or really any other record in the artist’s deep catalog. This is a pilgrimage, one as sacred as it is demanding. You can hold Veedon Fleece the record in your hands, play it on your home stereo system, marvel at its majesty and restraint. You’ve earned that, provided you respect the quest the way the artist did.”